GameGrumps host Dan Avidan has come under fire for an alleged pattern of manipulative behaviour and abuse of power.
Dan Avidan, a host with YouTube gameplay channel GameGrumps, has come under fire for manipulating fans for sex. Rumours surrounding his behaviour have circulated for the past year, the most substantial claims coming from his ex-personal assistant Kati Schwartz.
She describes Dan’s behaviour as ‘predatory’, using his status and power to approach fans. Telling women he wants to cultivate a serious relationship with them, thereby making them feel special, before sleeping with them and disappearing out of their lives.
Schwartz took her experiences from working with Dan and created a play called Bad People. The play portrays a character very similar to Dan who commits sexual misconduct. Kati took to Instagram when launching the play and described him as a “very dangerous man”.
The publicity from her announcement garnered support from other victims of Dan’s alleged behaviour and more women came forward, detailing similar experiences.
Avidan has an alleged longstanding history of using fans for sex, however the only current evidence of this behaviour are non-verified screenshots of conversations between fans and Avidan. There’s also a video featuring Dans voice asking an unknown women whether she would like to have sex with him in a bathtub.
The most recent allegation came two days ago, where a fan took to both Reddit and the Dan Avidan Twitter arena, claiming that Dan Avidan groomed a 17 year old before sleeping with them after they turned 22. With the available evidence it does not seem that any sexually charged messages where sent prior to them being of legal age, and the original poster has since come out on Twitter apologising for any confusion caused.
They stated: “the video doesn’t prove anything about grooming. So far it seems more like dan using a groupie for sex”
The orignal post has since been deleted and their Twitter account made private.
https://twitter.com/weimerzeimer/status/1373873618631942145
However, chatter surrounding the issue persists. Defendants of GameGrumps claim that there is both insufficient evidence of sexual misconduct and that the claims put forward don’t detail any crimes committed.
Those against GameGrumps state Dan Avidan’s behaviour is manipulative, and that using his status and power to sleep with women is morally wrong. It should also be noted that allegations like these have been popping up for well over a year, and Avidan nor anyone from GameGrumps has addressed the claims.
At this stage it is unclear whether Dan has committed any crime, and those defending him seem to hone in on this fact. However they fail to acknowledge the alleged abuse of power and pattern of manipulative behaviour. Several women have come out detailing terrible experiences with the YouTuber and that should not be taken lightly.
